You

You've read the Brushpile for some time now, and look at you...you're ok. Outside of that nervous tick, some abdominal spasms and a bit of nausea, you're just fine. This week Keith Nighswonger descends on the unsuspecting people of Florida, to give us his first hand account of the 2006 Bassmaster Classic. This week's Brushpiles will have a definite Classic tilt to them and we bet you will find them interesting. By his own admission, Nighswonger is off to find the stories that you won't read about anywhere else. If you go to the Classic, you may not see him, but rest assured he will be watching you. There is no telling where he will show up, so be on your best behavior...... You've been warned!

2/26/06 My Final Thoughts On This Year's Classic....Luke Clausen gets the job done, and the start of what will surely be a new era in Bass Fishing gets under way. New trails, new formats, bigger events, more opportunities, there is no looking back now. As I leave Florida and have a chance to reflect on what I just experienced, there are a few thoughts that come to mind...

Congratulations to BASS and everybody involved in putting together a very exciting event. Yes, that arena was full on Classic Sunday, standing room only. I couldn't begin to estimate how many people were there, but if you can come up with the capacity for the crowd, I will say it was filled. To any who might think that folks won't come out to a Bassmaster Classic anymore, you were wrong.
Call it luck, call it fate, throw out which ever cliché you would like to use, my experience as Luke Clausen's observer on day two is one that I will not forget. In an era where showmanship, controversy and tantrums seem to be the style of the hour, Clausen's demeanor on the water reminded me so much of a young Denny Brauer or Larry Nixon. When Luke landed that near six pounder on his third cast of day two, he didn't scream, he didn't roll over on his back, and he certainly didn't break dance. He simply uttered "Yes! That's the way to start the day," and he went back to work. Watching Luke systematically pick apart and dissect each patch of lily pads, it occurred to me how very little luck actually played in his victory. If anything, the bass that broke Luke's line on day two was lucky. The rest of the competitors were lucky that Luke missed a couple of good fish that day or else we might have been able to go home a day early.
Mind boggling. The only way to describe JM Media's attention to detail in their broad cast preparation. If you followed the Classic via the web, you had access to some pretty good up to the minute details of who was catching them and who was not. In the booth I was able to look how they coordinated catches, locations and angler movement. The technology is impressive, but how these guys use the technology is even more impressive. It was announced in the daily classic shows which of the Kiss Chain's lakes surrendered the most fish. JM was able to capture this information with their BASS Tech GPS systems. It was announced today at the weigh in that BASS uses this GPS information to return every fish, not just back to the launch site in Toho, not just back to some isolated stretch somewhere in the Chain, not even to the actual lakes they were caught in, but back to the actual GPS coordinates where they were caught. Personally, to me that is going way beyond the call of duty.
I saw two lure innovations that impressed me at the Classic show this week. Neither of these companies advertise with me, but I would like them too. I got to witness up close and personal, Mann's new "Hard Nose" line of plastic baits. The "Hard Nose" portion of the bait refer to the head or front section of the worm where the hook is inserted and where the weight comes in contact the plastic worm. Time and time again, Luke Clausen pulled that Hard Nose worm through the clumps of lily pads, crashing the weight and head of the worm he was using into the stocks that anchor the pads to the bottom. Luke explained the hard portion of the plastic was crucial for him, because to use a regular plastic worm, would be to have the plastic continuously pulled down as the bait passed through the thick stuff. I also saw the new Florida Rig tungsten weights from Tru Tungsten. The weights feature the familiar screw to hold the weight to the plastic lure while you work a bait through thick cover, however the Tur Tungsten weight features a nickel titanium spring, (memory alloy,) that stretches, bends and always returns to it's original shape. The advantages to this weight were obvious to me, the flex of the ni-ti spring, will allow the bait to swing when fight a fish, making it more difficult for that fish to throw the hook. Also without the nylon shaft that other Florida Rig weights have, there is less chance for a bass to work your line along that edge, damaging the line's strength.
The Federation, Federation Nation, TBF or what ever we are calling them these days filled in as always. Down at the boat yard, early in the morning, see the Federation guys all in a row. This guys do countless, thankless jobs that make this event possible. Anything from volunteering to be observers, (the top job as far as I am concerned,) tow vehicle drivers, chase boats, (guys who relay film shot from a boat to a waiting helicopter so that JM can begin to edit the afternoon's show, or even the two guys who had to carry the 20 foot wide Mercury banner to make sure it was in the backdrop when BassCenter was on the air.
Speaking of twenty foot Mercury banners, Yamaha parked about a 27 foot, center consoled, totally wrapped, Yamaha boat right behind where Bass Center's broad cast booth was set up. This was done very strategically. They waited until the 5 or 6 hour process of setting up the booth was completed and then they moved the boat right into the back ground, grow up guys.
Ron Shuffield's grace in the interview room, and on stage, knowing this would be his last Classic, no parting shots, just good old fashion manners. The same for Larry Nixon, and George Cochran. No burned bridges, just moving on.
Florida Bass, and Florida Bass fishing. It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. Yikes, these fish move quickly. I believe that an angler from Florida might learn to make adjustments better than other parts of the country because it seems to me that in Florida, at least this week, that barometer really rises and falls quickly.